SIDEWALKS AND SIDESTREETS: Streets, history & the Garden of Eden

By Philip Leo McCarron

Tuesday

Apr 3, 2018 at 9:22 PMApr 3, 2018 at 9:23 PM

History is a funny thing. We all like things that are solid, immovable, stable, permanent. True. And most of us think that history should be the same. Look at the Bible – the ultimate history book. God made the Earth in six days, took a break on the seventh. Adam was the first human – a guy. He lived in paradise – the Garden of Eden. He complained a little to God, though, regarding his loneliness, so God told him to dig a rib out of his (Adam’s) body, and from that rib God created Woman, and called her Eve. And we all know that’s when the trouble started.

Eventually, Eve sees an apple tree. God says, “Don’t eat one; it’s the Forbidden Fruit.” Then along comes the serpent, who says, “What’s wrong with an apple? Doesn’t it look good? Downright yummy? Don’t you want such a sumptuous snack?” And Eve goes with her taste buds, and then uses her womanly wiles (remember: clothes weren’t invented yet) and calls Adam, and they both take a bite out of the apple, and God gets mad and tells them to get lost; as they’d sinned (known as ‘original sin); they were no longer welcome in Eden. So they left.

I don’t know what came next, sex or clothes, but I really don’t think that matters all that much. They had a couple of sons, Cain and Abel, so they obviously figured out how things worked in that department. Then Cain got mad about something, and he killed Abel, and then – in the Bible, at least – all of a sudden the world was full of people. (We know this because of the Noah story.) So, at first, there weren’t people, and then there were. In the Bible, at least.

So, you’re now asking yourselves, and each other, “What does this have to do with the price of canned peaches in the Philippines (or something)?” Answer? Nothing. Nothing at all.

I’m merely using it as an example – a metaphor, I guess – about the reason for the invention of sidestreets.

Definition: (This comes from Google’s dictionary): “A public road in a city or town, typically with houses and buildings on one or both sides.”

This is America, and America is full of streets. Buildings, houses – the works. In fact, the number of streets in a place is directly proportional to the number of people who live there. But streets grow, expand … only so much can be built on them, be it a business building or a home. Eden. History.

American history teaches us that its original inhabitants were agrarian. True. But soon simple reproduction, coupled with an amazing influx of immigration, grew the population, who mostly settled in cities – in tenements, on streets. Main streets. In places like New York, Chicago, St. Louis, Boston. Before long, these main ‘streets’ became overcrowded.

So ancillary streets were created – mostly for residences. Family housing. The Adams and Eves were, once again, being cast out of the Garden. They were given the name ‘sidestreets,’ and were treated derisively, at least at first. These sub-urban neighborhoods became known as ‘suburbs.’

Which is where most people live. And we have God to thank for it.

Philip Leo McCarron is a Stoughton resident. He can be contacted by email at philmccarron@yahoo.com, and enjoys your comments. Why not email him?